Seventh Year Ball
by Just Mione
Summary: Seventh year. There is a ball, for seventh years only and the Head boy/girl have to open the dance with their dates. Sirius is alive. HGHP EPILOGUE IS UP! COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Seventh Year Ball

Chapter 1 Night Time Conversations

It was Harry and Hermione's seventh year, Voldemort had been defeated near the end of the year before but they lost more then the worry of Voldemort, they lost their best friend and his sister. They are both happy that He-who-must-not-be-named is gone and they pretend that the ones who died are 'in a better place,' but when they would go up to their respective Head Boy and Head Girl dorms they would sometimes cry themselves to sleep at night. Today was no different; Hermione sat by her large window, that overlooked the lake, with a book on her lap and tears falling down her face into the worn parchment pages, as Crookshanks played with a broken quill, on the floor.

"Crookshanks!" Harry yelled running up the stairs, pursuing the cat.

"Holly Cricket! Knock First! I could have been changing or something!" Hermione stood up, closing the book on her finger.

"Sorry Hermione." Harry said picking up the broken quill that Crookshanks dropped, "He was up in my room and stole my quill, after I stepped on it."

"It's alright, he does it all the time, to me." She pointing her wand at the broken quill and muttered the fixing charm.

"Thanks, Hermione." He smiled looking at her face, "Have you been crying, your eyes are all red and puffy?"

"Um…yeah," she admitted, looking at the floor, "I just was studying and my mind drifted off to when I would help Ginny and Ron with homework and…well you know what I mean right?" Hermione started crying again.

"I know, Hermione, I know." He hugged her swaying back and forth letting her warm tears fall to his shirt. He rubbed her back, comforting her, holding her close to him. He held on to her for almost an hour, as she cried. This was the way he expressed his desire to cry but he would never cry in front of her or anyone for that matter. "Hey Hermione if you want I have some chocolate up in my room." He asked his best friend. Plus, ever since his first encounter with the dementors Harry always kept some chocolate around, just incase anything happened.

"Thanks Harry." Hermione wiped away a tear, almost smiling, "You are defiantly the best friend a girl could have."

"Er…you're welcome." Harry quirked his eyebrow.

"Now you said something about chocolate?" She chuckled.

"Why yes I did." Harry smiled.

"As you know, that is music to my ears, may I have a piece?" She said innocently. Her eyes daring him to say no, but Harry was not that thick, he knows that if someone suggests chocolate to a girl they will get very peeved if they don't get some.

"Yeah, come up to my dorm."

"Okay." She slid her feet into her fuzzy blue slippers and followed him to his messy dorm. There were unfolded crumpled shirts and pants littering the floor. His school robes were lying on the floor in a pile. The blankets on his bed were half on half off only his broom was in its right place, in the corner by the door. "Well, er…" she waved her wand at his clothes and they flew into his laundry basket.

"Er… Thanks, Mione. I didn't want to clean."

"No problem." She smiled as she pointed her wand at his bed and the sheets made them self magically, of course.

"How do you know how to do all of this?" He asked with a smirk.

"I did it all summer. All I heard was 'Hermione, make my bed!' and 'Hermione, do this do that.' Just because I could use my wand."

"I hexed my family and went to Sirius'. You should have come it was me, him, and Lupin." Harry sighed handing her a bar of chocolate that he had retrieved from his nightstand.

"Well, I wouldn't want to break up the testosterone fest." She smiled biting into the bar of Honeydukes chocolate. "Mmm…caramel?" her eyes flicked up to his.

"Yeah, I had a major sweet tooth when I got it…"

"…then when you got back you didn't." She guessed, she had done the same thing one day.

"Yeah, spur of the moment type of thing."

"With you it's always spur of the moment things." Hermione smiled handing him the uneaten part of the chocolate bar.

"Hey, I take offence to that!" Harry joked, and then he became serious "Alright Hermione, I need help."

"With what?" Hermione said warmly

"Homework and the whole Weaslys hating us thing." Harry said glumly collapsing on his bed Hermione sat down next to him and hugged him.

"I know Harry, I know." She whispered, "They were like family to me too." They sat on Harry's bed, as she hugged him and they cried into each other's shoulders, all the tears they had been holding back from the rest of the world. They both slept in Harry's room that night.

The next night Hermione was sitting on their private common room couch, when Professor McGonagall entered their dorm.

"Ms. Granger, where is Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall demanded upon entering the room.

"He told me he was going to fly around outside for a little while. Professor if you don't mind me asking…" Hermione said biting her lip, looking up from her potions essay. Professor McGonagall nodded for her to continue, "Why do you need him, was it anything he did? Because if he did something I can yell at him for you, if you want."

"No, he is not in trouble." The Professor sighed, "It's just a matter I need to discuss with the two of you."

"Oh well then…one minute." Hermione got up from the couch and walked over to the window. She opened the window and put her head outside. "Harry get inside Professor McGonagall needs to talk to us!" she screamed out the window and Harry came flying over to her in a hurry.

"Whatever it is I didn't do it."

"It's nothing bad, I hope." She looked at her professor.

"Well every year this school has a ball for only the seventh years and the younger grades _can not_ find out _until_ their _seventh year_. Traditionally the Head Boy and Girl always open the dance with their dates, though in some cases the Head Boy and Girl do go to the ball together." She glanced at Harry when she said this.

"So, you want to know if we'll be going together or not?" Harry asked, placing his broom in the corner where wall meets wall.

"I was just informing you that there is a ball and you two must get dates from _your _year." Professor McGonagall started to leave.

"Professor what if we don't want to go to the ball do we have to?" Harry asked.

"Potter you are opening the dance. Find a date, in your year." She left.

"Not fair." He mumbled sitting on the couch, "This is not bloody fair!" He raised his voice a little.

"You think I want to go either?" Hermione sat next to him.

"You're a girl, girls get excited about dancing and dresses and you know the whole Cinderella Ball type thing." Harry sighed

"Harry, I know. I'm a girl but you know as well as I do that I don't get excited over a dance. The only reason I looked the way I did, at The Yule Ball, was because Lavender and Parvati were crazy about the ball, and they 'decorated' me."

"So, you're not a ball obsessed crazy animal?" Harry asked, "What do you mean 'decorated' you?"

"No, I'm not, and that means they did the makeup and hair and dress and shoes and everything." Hermione sighed, "I've got nothing going for me except that I'm friends with you."

"No you don't."

"No, it's true." Hermione said, "Look at it this way. Krum, well he was a pompous little arrogant jerk and he was conceded too. Then I dated my muggle friend Nick, now I grew up with him, don't get me wrong I love the kid but as a brother not a boy friend. Lastly there was Ron, one week, and I almost ripped all of his hair out, literally."

"Hermione, Krum was long distance, Nick was too, and Ron was trying to dump you without killing the friendship, he felt you were like _another_ sibling." Harry said, "You're smart and can be funny in your own way. You have a lot going for you."

"But you, you have every thing going for you. Looks, sports, fame, money, and 'the hero thing', girls love the hero thing. Most girls love it." Hermione said

"Hermione. I don't have looks going for me. I have these huge ugly glasses and messy hair and a disgusting scar on my head." Harry said, "The fame and money and hero thing, you know I hate it. The only thing I like is the Quidditch, just because I have fun when I play."

"Do you know how many fan girls you have?"

"There's a fan club?" Harry said, sounding upset

"Yeah, Colin tried to make _me_ join." Hermione shook her head

"Why?"

"So that I could give them 'insider information' all about you." Hermione said, "You know steel your comb, your night time routine, favorite songs, everything about you." Hermione said with a sigh

"That's just retarded." Harry said twirling her quill between his two fingers

"Can you give that back?" Hermione asked looking at her parchment

"Fine." He tossed the quill back to Hermione

"Thank You." She started to work on her essay again

"Hermione?" He asked

"What?" She looked up at him

"Who are you going to ask to the ball?"

"I want to go alone, but we can't so, I don't know, some one will just have to ask me. I don't fancy anyone right now."

"Oh Really?" Harry asked grabbing her essay

"Yeah, now give that back, I'm not finished." Hermione reached for his arm

"It looks done to me." Harry said and started reading it out loud "This potion known as the Poly Juice potion temporally transfigures the drinker into the physical form of another. The drinker may experience a disgusting taste and smell when they are brewing it and also drinking it." He skipped down the page, "The potion lasts for an hour, but it slowly wears off as time passes, after the full hour the drinker is back to their normal form." He looked up at her, "Mione what are you going to put. 'This potion is against the rules at Hogwarts, and most magical schools. Though my friends and I brewed this potion in the second floor girl's bathroom in our second year, though I did most of the work.' There is nothing else you can add."

"Yes there is." Hermione said, "I can show how it is used by many ministry officials, and the places that it is illegal."

"Mione, Snape gave us this essay to catch us." Harry said

"No, we have to study this."

"He wants to do me in."

"Yeah but only because your father and him had a grudge match."

"You just proved my point."

"But…Oh bugger."

"Guess what?"

"I hate this game. What is it?"

"I finished my essay, before you." He pointed at her

"Oh really?"

"Yeah." He crossed the room and went to the desk in the corner retrieving a sheet of parchment "Look, it's done." He handed it to her

"Well I'll just check it for you." Hermione said and started checking, scribbling away on his paper changing sentence structure and spelling

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I finished. This was a completely random thing I did I don't know where it's going. I just started it in class when I had free time and I just kept working on it. Any suggestions are welcome. This if you can't tell is set in seventh year but fifth and sixth books aren't incorporated, well, to a point they are but not the whole thing. They went to the department of mysteries but Sirius fell and hit his head and it looked like he was dead, but he wasn't. Sixth book forget it. No Ron/Hermione or Harry/Ginny. Er… I forgot my disclaimer didn't I?

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, because if I did things would be different, way different.

Just Mione


	2. Chapter 2

Seventh Year Ball

Chapter 2 Finding a Date is Hard Work

The day after Professor McGonagall came to talk to Harry and Hermione there was a meeting for all seventh years. They were all told to go down to the Great Hall for it. All of the boys, who didn't have girlfriends, were upset, because they had to get dates. The girls got extremely happy about it and started to babble about what they were going to wear, until Professor McGonagall yelled over all the talking for every one to be quiet.

"Now there will be no telling of the younger grades about this ball. Only the teachers can repeat this knowledge, so don't even try it."

At that the hall muttered an 'Ok.'

"Then I suggest to all of you to find dates. You are all dismissed." She said and the seventh years all left the hall

Harry and Hermione went up to their dorm. Hermione started work on her homework while Harry played with a Quidditch diagram, he was the captain and he needed to work on the moves. They both sat there working on their respective hobbies for a while until Harry's mind started to wander.

_Who should I ask? _He stood up and walked around looking like he was working on the Quidditch diagram. _I_ _can only ask seventh years. So… _He sighed moving an 'O' to the goal posts._ Well Sirius did say any girl would want me 'cause I saved the bloody world, but he was just trying to cheer me up. Who would go out with some one, who caused their parents' deaths, Cedric's death, and his best friends' death (along with his sister who really shouldn't have been there, in the first place)? The worst part about this stupid ball is that I have to go because I'm Head Boy and I have to open the dance with my bloody date and Hermione has to open the dance with her bloody god damn date. I HATE DANCING AND THESE STUPID 'DRESS UP IN MONKEY SUITS AND PARADE AROUND LIKE A LOON' THINGS. That's it I could ask Luna, no wait she's a sixth year. Who can I ask?_

"Harry, are you alright? You've been staring at the diagram for like ten minutes not even working on it, what's wrong?" Hermione asked voice full of concern.

"I'm just thinking about the ball, and how much it is going to royally suck." He said flopping into the couch cushions.

"It's not going to be _that _bad." Hermione smiled sweetly, "It could actually be fun, if you just embrace the…"

"The dancing, the rejections, the what, Hermione, the what?" He interrupted, throwing his head back.

"The day, Harry, the day."

"The day?" He looked at her skeptically.

"Yeah, it should be fun." She smiled, placing her homework in her open book and closing it on the parchment.

"Fun? Worrying about the hair and makeup and stuff?"

"Harry, seriously, are you going to be wearing makeup and fixing your hair for an hour?"

"No." He said shortly, looking at her like she was crazy.

"Then why are you worrying over it?" She leaned on the table, using her elbows, with a sly smile on her face.

"Because anyone I take to the ball will be expecting me to complement her on that sort of stuff. So I have to keep an open mind about it all."

"Aw…How cute, a guy caring about that sort of stuff." She said in a voice you would talk to a baby in.

"Don't baby me or mock me which ever that was." He wined, "Girls, I guess, care about stuff like that and I want to be nice to her, whoever that I'm taking anyway."

"So who are you planning on taking?"

"Er…a girl." He laughed, "I don't know, who are you taking?"

"Uh…a guy." She mocked him, laughing, "How about a week from now we both have to have dates, no mater what?"

"I made this deal with Ron and embarrassed the hell out of myself." Harry shook his head.

"You gave each other a day, I'm giving us a week." She pointed out to him.

"Alright, but it better work."

"Don't worry, it will." She smiled placing the book in her bag.

"Ok this time next week."

"Shake on it?" Hermione held out her pinky, and they pinky swore

"Deal." Harry said

"You do know that a pinky swear is a legally binding contract, right?"

"Yeah." Harry said, in the past year she had said that a few times. It was usually to lighten the mood between the members of the trio and order.

The next day was Sunday and the students were relaxing in the warm confines of the castle walls. Hermione woke up really early and decided she had enough time to take a relaxing bubble bath in the private bathroom she shared with Harry as part of their suite. She changed into her bathrobe in her room and she entered the bathroom, holding some aromatherapy candles and her wand. She bumped into Harry in the bathroom and dropped one of the candles on the floor where the glass shattered.

"Sorry Mione." Harry pulled out his wand, "_Reparo_." He handed her the candle.

"Oh…it's alright." Hermione said and turned to leave the room.

"No, its ok I was just leaving."

"Oh thanks." She smiled.

"No problem." He stepped out of the room and went into his dorm room. He sat down on his bed and lied down it, sighing. He stood up and picked up a small ping-pong ball, which he confiscated from a first year yesterday for making it bounce off of people's heads in the hallway, and he started to throw it up in the air and catch it. As he did this he heard the sweet sound of soft singing coming from the bathroom, he placed his ear on the door, only to hear Hermione singing. She was singing the song reflection by Christina Aguilara. _I didn't know that she could sing. _He continued to keep his ear to the door. Sooner or later she stopped singing and he heard her get up and out of the bathroom. He got up and went to the bathroom, he had just told her that he went so that she could relax.

Later that day, Harry and Hermione were wandering the halls talking about the up coming trip to the village. Sooner or later, they were sitting in the library doing research for Professor Snape's advanced potions class when Ernie tapped Hermione on the shoulder.

"Um… Oh hi Ernie is something wrong?" Hermione asked brushing hair out of her face.

"No nothing is wrong I just want to ask you something."

"Oh ok, go ahead."

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go to the ball with me?" He said with no trepidation, which annoyed Harry for some odd reason.

"Well…Ernie…I'm flattered I really am but I'll have to get back to you about this."

"Oh…alright, but don't expect me to wait around for you." He stalked off in a huff.

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Yeah?"

"What was that, I thought you were looking for a date?"

"Well…I actually don't want to go with him so I was being nice about it." She pulled a piece of parchment with a few names on it out and scribbled 'Ernie' down on the paper

"Mione, what's that?"

"A list." She started to put it out of sight.

"Let me see it?"

"No." She put it under a few books, so that he could not read it.

"Oh come on please?" He gave her the 'Potter Smile'

"Oh alright." She handed him the paper as she bit her lip.

"Hm… Let's see here 'Dean.' He asked you?" He wiggled his eyebrows, and she laughed at his crazy antics.

"Yeah."

"Then 'Tom.' Who is Tom?" His eyes went wide.

"Not the Tom your thinking of, he is in Hufflepuff and he is a really nice guy but I really don't want to go with him."

"Why not?" He asked surprised.

"We don't have much in common, nothing to talk about."

"But you won't be talking you'll be dancing."

"Not necessarily, what about when we eat or take a break from dancing?"

"Ok you have a point."

"Knew you would see it my way."

"What?" He was confused

"Never mind."

"Ok." Harry said, "So how are you going to break the news to these people?"

"Well, I don't know, I might go with Dean, though."

"Really?"

"Yeah, unless the person I want to go with asks me."

"Why don't you ask him?"

"Because that is embarrassing, and this is a formal thing, guys have to ask the girls."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and who are you going with?"

"So far no one, but I have to go with some one right?"

"Yeah, so who are you thinking of asking?"

_You, but I can't ask you because you are my best friend and I can't like my best friend. _"Uh…I don't know yet."

"Oh come on you have to have some idea."

"Who I want to ask has people to go with already."

"Oh…Why not ask her anyway?"

"That is just wrong. She already has a decision to make, I'll make it worse."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"Because girls are notoriously indecisive."

"Not all girls and plus I think any girl in this school, except Slytherin, would go to the ball with you."

"And that is because I am the-boy-who-lived, I hate that title." He grumbled.

"I know you do." She glanced at her essay, "Are you done with yours yet?"

"Just about." He quickly wrote a sentence, "Now I'm done."

"Let's go down to lunch I'm getting kind of hungry."

"And off to lunch we go." Harry said in a sing song voice, "We're off to see the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! There was. The Wizard of Oz is one because, because, because, because, because, because. Because of the wonderful things he does."

"Oh shut up." Hermione sighed, after a minute of his singing, "What compelled you to start singing?"

"I don't know just felt like it." Harry shrugged, "And what compelled you to sing this morning?"

"You were listing to me!" She yelled as they were stepping on to the marble staircase.

"Yeah, so what if I was." He jumped back from her a little bit.

"You were listing to me in the bathroom!" She yelled even louder.

"Yeah only because I heard some one singing and I was surprised!" He retorted a little louder.

"Why were you so surprised that I could sing?"

"The only other time I heard you sing was when we all sung the school song."

"Tell me the last time I sung that?"

"I don't know, but what relevance does that have to the situation!"

"Oh looks like you learned a new word!"

"Hermione Jane Granger, do not mock me. I'm not RON!" He screamed and the word Ron rang out through the whole entrance hall

Hermione went over to Harry slapped him across the face and ran up the stairs and up to the Gryffindor girl's dorm room sat on her old bed and cried. As she was crying Lavender and Parvati entered the room giggling.

"Oh my god Hermione what's wrong?" They both said at the same time.

"Harry…" She grumbled, her face in the pillow.

"What about him?" Lavender asked sitting down on the bed next to her.

"He…well…he…well…we got into a fight and he brought up a subject that is still tough to deal with." She buried her head in the pillow farther.

"Well what was it?" Parvati asked sitting on the opposite side of Lavender.

"Remember last year, when Ron and Ginny died?"

The two girls nodded solemnly.

"Well Harry and I were fighting and he screamed at me that he was not Ron and…" Hermione picked her head back up, "You guys remember how close the three of us were and it's still a little tough you know what I mean?" Her voice broke slightly.

"Yeah." Lavender mumbled handing Hermione a tissue. "You do know that it's ok to cry right?"

"Yeah, and thanks." Hermione smiled as her eyes welled up with warm tears.

"Were always here for you and there is always an extra bed for you in here. So if you need it…" Parvati shrugged.

"Thanks, but I'm going to go up to the library. Harry refuses to go in there, with out being told to." She stood up.

She went downstairs, into the library, and to her secluded corner by the restricted section. There she picked up a book and curled up into the seat, hiding her face behind the book. An hour into her solitude, she heard her name being franticly called by Harry, automatically she though something had happened. Such as, some one rose from the dead, an attack of some sort, someone died or something awful.

Harry ran into the library calling out her name, she looked up at him as he ran over to her.

"Harry what's wrong? What happened?" Hermione said putting her book aside.

"Hermione, I was an arsehole." Harry said, and she smiled a little, "I know I shouldn't have brought up the subject of Ron or anything like that, and I'm sorry. I was an idiot and a jerk and a…you know you can stop me at anytime right?"

"Yeah I know." Hermione said, shaking her head. "So what is it? What happened?"

"As I said, I was a jerk and a… I wanted to say that I'm sorry and that I really hope that you will forgive me."

"Yeah I forgive you." She looked up at his truly sorry face, "You know you forgot prat, and the-boy-who-breathed." She laughed at his protest when she started to say the-boy-who-breathed

"You do know that I am not the-boy-who-breathed I am The-Boy-Who-Lived, right?"

"Yeah I know. I'm sorry that I slapped you."

"I deserved it." He stated.

"No you didn't, and I'm sorry." She said, "We were hungry right?"

"Yeah, lets go get lunch." He said

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First off let me say how sorry I am for making all of you wait so long for this. I really am sorry. The reason it took so long was because I had to pass high school, now I am finally in college and so happy to be here.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I wish I did though.

Just Mione


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everybody! Thank you so much for reading 'Seventh Year Ball' I'll update with the chapter soon after I get some help. I need help with Hermione's dress and the other girls' dresses. How you can help me you ask? Well you can go to my myspace and vote on the numbered dresses. I have a link to the myspace in my profile. You can leave a comment, message, or a review with the number bellow the dress. Leave it like this:

Dress # 6 – Hermione

Other dress #'s if you can think of them for the other girls'

Now remember the ball is only for seventh years. The picture of the dresses is in the 'pics' folder and in a folder called 'Seventh Year Ball.' Here is a link to the myspace so that you don't have to go running to my profile: myspace.

Most of chapter 3 is done I just need help picking a dress because of something that happens with the dress in the chapter.

THANK YOU!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

Seventh Year Ball

Chapter 3 Getting Ready

The week that they had given themselves to get dates flew by. Hermione kept being asked to the ball by several people and now her list had grown to ten people because the list was bigger Harry felt like if he asked Hermione out she would face more difficulties deciding between her dates Harry and Hermione were walking back from care of magical creatures when it happened. Hermione tripped over a book, how a book got outside and in the grass nobody knew, but she cracked all the bones in her nose and her front teeth on the rock that her face collided with.

Hermione sat in the hospital wing looking into a mirror that Harry was holding up for her. "Harry I look like I was in a fist fight."

"Hey look on the bright side…"

"What bright side? The ball is coming up soon and I look like a bloody mess." Hermione closed her eyes, "Nobody is going to want to go with me." She muttered.

"You got a new book." Harry said with a smile.

"Ha…ha…very funny." She playfully smacked his arm, while she rolled her eyes at his stupidity

"Come on it's a new book. You love books." He smiled

"No I like reading books. It's not a new book either." She pushed the mirror away from her face

"Yes it is. Well it's new for you to read. That's what I mean by 'new' book."

"Mister Potter what are you doing here again?" Madam Pomfrey said busting over to the two teenagers.

"It's me who is hurt this time, Madam Pomfrey." Hermione turned to look at the woman, "What can you do for me?"

"Miss Granger I have seen this many times and I have been successful at fixing this problem every time. Don't worry over it for a minute." Madam Pomfrey smiled and pushed Hermione's head down onto the pillow behind her.

Harry watched as Madam Pomfrey adjusted Hermione's nose making it strait and perfect again. Madam Pomfrey put Hermione's nose in a small bandage; it would be off by the ball Madam Pomfrey assured Hermione. The medi-witch got to work with Hermione's teeth, by far the hardest thing to do. Harry and Hermione had collected the broken pieces of Hermione's teeth and had quickly gone over to the Hospital Wing. So Madam Pomfrey had to work on putting the pieces of the girl's teeth together and put these pieces back in Hermione's mouth. Eventually Madam Pomfrey asked Harry for the mirror that he was still holding, she held it up for Hermione. Hermione smiled upon seeing her face in the mirror, she looked normal again.

"Harry I look normal again." Hermione smiled to show him her teeth, "Thank You, Madam Pomfrey, Thank You."

"No Problem." Madam Pomfrey said and walked away.

"You look perfect." Harry said.

"Thanks but I'm no where near perfect." Hermione smiled at him as she slowly got out of the bed.

In Harry's opinion her nose and teeth were perfect as were her eyes, hands, smile. To Harry she was perfect, no matter what happened she would always be perfect. "Whatever you say, Hermione, whatever you say."

Later that day, at dinner, Hermione decided to ask Harry who he was going to the ball with. He decided to respond with another question.

"Who are you going with?"

"No way, I asked you first. So tell me, who?"

"Ok I'll admit it. I didn't ask anyone."

"You what!" She placed her apple down on the plate before her, "Harry you have to go with someone…"

"So do you." Harry mumbled as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the Great Hall.

"Harry I understand if you don't want to be dating anyone right now but you have to just go to the ball with whoever you take. It's not like you are required by some weird wizarding law to date the person you go to a ball with. I mean go to the Gryffindor table and ask Lavender to go with you, just to have someone to dance one dance with, that's it only one simple dance. If you want I'll teach you how to dance. You just have to take someone." Hermione said in a low somewhat frantic whisper.

"Hermione it's not that I don't have someone who is willing to go with me, Merlin knows I have too many people who want to go with me. The question is does the person I want to go with want to go with me." Harry pulled her over to the Grand Staircase where they could sit down and talk this out.

"What do you mean? Any red blooded sane witch would jump on the chance to go to a ball with you, Harry." Hermione smiled as she let go of his hand, "Who is this person that you want to take to the ball anyway? I could help you ask her if you want."

"Erm…Hermione…I…uh…"Harry stammered _Now or never, Potter, now or never._ "Hermione did you decide on who you wanted to take?"

"No I actually haven't."

"Ok, that's good. Um…Hermione do you think that you could reject all those other guys and go to the ball with me?" Harry asked

Hermione laughed then hugged him, "Of course I'll go with you. Took you long enough."

"Wait you were expecting me to ask you?" Harry asked surprised at her words.

"Harry, how long have I known you?" Hermione pursed her lips.

"Seven years, but what relevance does that have?"

"Because I know you and I know how much you hate your fame and how you would want to go with a friend. Since I'm your only female friend in seventh year I just assumed." Hermione smiled

"Hermione you forgot something." Harry said smirking

"What did I forget?"

"You forgot something that I never told you, that something is that I really like you, and that you're the world's greatest woman."

"Harry I really like you too, I mean your like my best friend and everything, but I think that you might be going overboard with the whole 'world's greatest woman' thing, I mean there are so many other women in this world that are better than me." Hermione said

"Hermione you like me as just a friend?"

"Well…you'll see soon enough." Hermione stood up and raced out of the Entrance Hall, up the stairs towards the Gryffindor common room.

Harry walked back into the Great Hall and sat back down in his seat next to Neville. Harry must have looked very confused or worried because Neville asked him what was wrong. Harry turned to Neville and smiled as he told him to forget about it. It was just another weird Harry Potter problem.

"No Neville it's not nothing. You know what?"

"No." Neville looked at him like he was insane, "Are you feeling alright? Do you need to go to Madam Pomfrey?"

"I don't need to down there for a second time today." Harry sighed, "Neville listen to this."

"Ok." Neville replied

"I just told Hermione that I really like her and that she is the best woman in the world and she replied with a 'I like you too, you're my best friend' thing. I don't get it, she's known me for seven years and then gives me a vague answer. I don't understand women." Harry complained as he stabbed his peas. "Neville, what do I do?"

"Uh Harry I'm not the best person in the world on relationships but I think that you could like ask her what she meant." Neville shrugged trying to help but not knowing what to say.

"Well, I kind of did but it sort of blew up in my face."

"How did it blow up in your face?" Neville took a bite of his chicken pot pie.

"She just said 'you'll see soon enough' and ran up the stairs." Harry laughed at everything that had happened in the last few minutes.

"Maybe she meant that you'll see at the ball or something. I really don't know." Neville said looking back down at his meal.

It was the morning of the Hogsmeade trip every single seventh year had to go. They had to get robes for the ball. Harry decided that he wanted to match Hermione, just a little, maybe just his tie matching her dress, that's it. Hermione said that it was ok. So they had gone into the robes shop together.

"Hello shopping for something special?" The elderly woman smiled at the two of them as they entered her shop.

"Were looking for dress robes to attend a ball in." Hermione said as Harry started to walk over to the men's section. "Harry." Hermione warned and he came walking back to her.

"Yes Hermione." He looked at the woman before him, "Hermione can you just tell me the color of your dress and I will get my robes together, please."

"Well I can't right now." He looked at her in disbelief. "Because I don't know what color my dress will be so I can't tell you."

"A man can never go wrong with the classic black on white." The elderly woman smiled at their conversation, "Miss if you don't mind I will help him find a set of robes then I will help you find the perfect dress."

"Thank you." Harry and Hermione said at the same time.

The woman showed Harry many different black robes with white undershirts (1) to him they all looked the same, just with an added ruffle or two on some of them. He finally picked an outfit that had no ruffles or extra 'stuff.' He paid for his dress robes and asked Hermione if she needed him to stay around, if not he would go to The Three Broomsticks and wait for her. She told him to go to The Three Broomsticks and hang out with everyone in there.

Hermione had many favorite dresses in mind and asked the woman for some help. "I honestly don't know what to pick." She had muttered to herself.

"You can try all of them on and see which ones look the best on you then pick from those." The woman smiled as she helped Hermione carry the dresses to the fitting room.

Hermione started trying on many dresses; she had gone a bit crazy she picked some colors that she wouldn't be caught dead in like pink, yellow, and neon green. She liked Harry and wanted to show her 'sex appeal' as people called it; she wanted to show him that she was a _woman_. The dresses she picked were all slightly reveling, except a few of them, one was very covered up and three showed the 'sex appeal' very well. Hermione wanted to choose from those three dresses, so she decided to show the sales-lady the dresses on her.

The first dress was a low cut black dress that shimmered in the light, it had halter straps and clung to Hermione's body extenuating her figure. She turned to the elderly lady and spun slowly. "So how does this look?"

"Great, it fits nice and looks good. Are you trying to impress that young man who came in here with you?" The lady smiled.

"Well...Yes I am actually." Hermione blushed, a little as she said this.

"Don't worry about it dear, I've seen it many times. Seventh Years trying to impress their crushes at that ball, it's quite normal actually."

"Thanks." Hermione said and shuffled back into the dressing room, "I have two more dresses that I have questions about." She called through the door. The woman just chuckled and waited for Hermione to walk out of the room. The dress she walked out in was a dark blue swoop neck dress that sparkled in the light and had sleeves which were more like a muggle shrug sweater then anything but it was built into the dress. Hermione twirled around asking how this one looked.

"Well dear if you're trying to get a rise out of him I'd suggest thin straps so if you want to cover your arms use a shawl. The dress looks beautiful on you but if you're trying to knock the socks off him go with thin straps." The woman smiled with years of experience in the matter.

"Really?" Hermione asked as she looked down at the bottom hem of the dress.

"Yes, dear, I've been in this business for years and the boys like the least amount of clothes to notice that the girl is interested in him." She said thinking back to all the relationships she helped to start and the number of women who came back to her for a wedding dress, still with the same guy. "Now go try on that last dress."

When Hermione walked out of the dressing room all she heard was a sharp intake of breath then a loud scream from the woman. "Oh my sweet Merlin, it's perfect." The woman circled around Hermione.

The dress Hermione had on was a red silk dress with a neckline that started halfway down her breasts and a slit that went to an inch above her knee. It had thin straps that held the dress up and it fit perfectly to Hermione's thin form.

"So this is the one I should get?" Hermione asked as a joke.

"Oh yes. You'll need accessories as well?"

"Yeah, I have my jewelry though."

"Well that's good. Do you have something to go with this dress though?" The woman asked excited as she pulled Hermione to the back of the store where there were a few racks full of shoes, but they were all white.

"Um…excuse me but all the shoes are white." Hermione observed.

"Well I can magically color them to any color imaginable." She said pulling out a pair of shoes for Hermione. "Now try these I believe they will be perfect with that dress."

Hermione pulled the white three strapped shoes on her feet. Two of the straps covered the spot above her toes and the other strap went around her ankle to secure it to her foot. She stood up and started to walk around in them deciding that they were the perfect shoe for her she had the color changed to a pale gold color, her jewelry was going to be gold.

She returned to the dressing room and changed back into her street clothes and carefully put her dress back on the hanger and walked out to the counter where the elderly woman was waiting for her.

"Ready already?" The woman asked as Hermione nodded and handed her the dress. The woman put it in a dress-sized plastic bag and tied a knot at the bottom of the bag.

Hermione paid for her dress and magically-color-changed shoes, then she left the shop and walked over to The Three Broomsticks, where she was meeting Harry. Walking into The Three Broomsticks she saw Harry sitting at a table with Hagrid and Dean.

"God you took forever." Harry said in a way of greeting her.

"Well, 'Hi' to you too." She sat down next to Hagrid, after she placed her bags on the back of the chair. "Sorry I took so long but I had many choices to pick from." She smiled to herself thinking of what Harry's reaction was going to be to her dress. "Um…Dean can I talk to you outside real quick?"

"Uh…Yeah, sure, what is it?" Dean said standing up to go outside with her.

"I'll tell you outside." She said then turned to Hagrid, "Can you make sure Harry doesn't go in either bag on my chair." Hagrid nodded as she left the pub with Dean.

"What did you need to talk about?" Dean asked placing a hand on her sholder, they had become somewhat close after Ron and Ginny died, he had been with Ginny and shared in their grief.

"You do know that Harry asked me to the ball and I said yes to him." Hermione said leading him over to the bench outside of the pub.

"Yeah I know." He said as he took a seat.

"Are you angry because I know u had asked me first and I said yes to him and well you know?"

"No, not at all. I actually thought that you had wanted Harry to ask you because of the way you kept looking at him." Dean said, "I had asked you just to figure out if you were or not and I guess I was right."

"Yes Dean Thomas you were." She said like she was accusing him of something, "But seriously your not upset or anything?"

"No Shamus and I want to take the Patil sisters. They are pretty damn hot."

"Share a dorm with one of them then tell me that you can stand them." Hermione jokingly dared him.

"Oh believe me I want to." Dean smirked.

"Eww…Dean that's disgusting." Hermione lightly smacked him on the shoulder, "Have you two even asked them yet?"

"Yeah, we did." Dean smirk grew wider.

"Well that is certainly too much information right now." Hermione said, leaving Dean to daydream, she stated she was going inside.

"Come on Hagrid let me see!" She heard Harry plead with Hagrid.

"HARRY YOU ARE NOT LOOKING AT THAT DRESS!" She screamed as she got closer to the table, "Hagrid, thank you." Hermione smiled at the half-giant, then turned to Harry, "Were going to go up to the castle, we'll see you in class Hagrid."

Harry and Hermione took their purchases and went outside into the main road of Hogsmeade. They headed up toward the castle with Harry trying to see Hermione's dress or shoes. Hermione kept telling him that he would have to wait until the Ball to see it and that she would put it in her trunk and put a series of charms on the trunk so that it would remain locked and only she could open it. After that comment Harry gave up on finding out what the dress looked like but he just wanted to know the color of it, but she even refused to tell him that.

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Chapter DONE! Phew! Finally. One question why couldn't anyone help me decide on what dress to give Hermione? If anyone wants to see the dresses I chose from click on this link: Dresses. The dress I gave Hermione is Number 7. It will ge…. Oops! Don't want to give away too much. Hehe. Lots of love to all of you and I'm so sorry for the delay in updating but I have one excuse. And here it is. I am in college and life & work & school got in the way but now it's the summer so if I get some encouraging reviews I'll work harder to get a new chapter out quicker.

Can't Wait For July!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just MioneHerHHer


	5. Chapter 5

Seventh Year Ball

Chapter 4

The ball happened to occur on a Friday so the seventh years still had their classes to attend. Unfortunately for the seventh years they had Care of Magical Creatures then Potions on Fridays. Everything was going wrong on this particular Friday someone melted a cauldron in Potions and in Care of Magical Creatures one of the fire crabs that the class was observing started to attack the students and a few of them got slightly singed. Nothing that Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix though. This left a slight problem for the girls going to the ball, it cut into their getting ready time.

Hermione required help, what did she know about makeup and girly things. She turned to her two ex-roommates, they were going to get ready in the seventh year girls dorm room.

Harry was going to get ready in his private dorm.

With her dress and shoes hidden from Harry's prying eyes, Hermione told him that she was going to Gryffindor tower to get ready. Harry just nodded as he moved some figures around on his Quidditch diagram.

"Aren't you going to get ready?" Hermione asked, looking at the mess he made in their common room with his Quidditch stuff.

"I can get ready in a few minutes, it doesn't take a guy long to get ready for anything." Harry smirked, he knew what she was going to face, the evils of makeup, hair, nails and whatever girls do to get ready for something formal.

"Wipe that smirk off your face please. We're going to meet in the Entrance Hall right?"

"Yeah." Harry said, "See you down there, don't be late."

"Like that'll ever happen, me late you're joking right?" Harry just nodded with a smile on his face. Hermione gasped and ran into her dorm room mumbling something that sounded like 'jewelry' she reappeared a minute later with a small gold bag and her big bag with the dress and shoes inside of it. "I'll see you later." She smiled and slipped out of the door.

She ran up to Gryffindor tower, through the common room, and up the girls' staircase. She arrived her old dorm room to a flurry of activity Lavender and Parvati were running around trying to find stuff which meant the room was a complete disaster area. Hermione was disgusted by everything in the room, she knew that they were messy but not this bad. She guessed it was because when she was in the dorm she would clean up everything for them.

"Hi Lav, Pav, what are the two of you looking for?" Hermione asked as Lavender threw some sort of rubbish out of her trunk and in the direction of the closed door.

"The hair stuff that we used in your hair, for the ball, fourth year." Parvati said as she pulled her makeup case out from under a chair. "Lavender maybe it's in here. This is my old makeup."

"Girls…" Hermione started to say.

"Yeah, check in there." Lavender cut her off, "I'll look over here." She said as she walked into the bathroom.

"GIRLS, it's right here!" Hermione screamed as soon as Lavender finished speaking.

"Hermione don't interrupt the searching!" Parvati said placing containers of makeup on the floor, making neat piles with it.

"Lavender, Parvati, I have the hair potion. You can stop looking for it." Hermione pulled the potion out of her shopping bag. "I picked up a new bottle because we used up the last one."

"Oh my god, thank you!" They screamed hugging her.

"Now the objective is to knock Harry's socks off right?" Lavender pulled up a chair for Hermione to sit in while the two other girls worked their magic.

"When you put it that way…" Hermione started to say while Parvati opened the bottle of the hair potion; right away she dumped it on Hermione's head and cut her speech off.

"Now Lavender what should we do with her hair?" Parvati asked as they got closer to her brandishing brushes and combs.

Hermione closed her eyes and sat back in the chair as the two other girls worked with the mess that she usually called hair.

While Hermione was getting her hair tugged on and pinned into place, Harry came up with a brilliant idea. This wonderful idea of his involved him needing his wand, the map and invisibility cloak.

Harry raced down to the passage way behind the humpback witch and he ran into Honeydukes under his invisibility cloak. Harry exited Honeydukes and proceeded to walk down the main road of the village eventually, when he was far enough away from other people, he apparated to Diagon Ally. He went to Gringotts Bank to exchange some of his magical money for some muggle pounds. When Harry left the bank he walked strait out of Diagon Ally and through the Leaky Cauldron to the muggle London road.

His idea was to get Hermione flowers and without thinking about what was normal and acceptable in the muggle world. Harry had forgotten to change out of his robes and he was wondering the streets of London looking for a florist. Eventually after wandering around a few streets in London, Harry saw a sign that read "London's Finest Flowers" and he ran into the store.

"Hello," The shopkeeper said as he walked into the room holding a plant that covered his face, he placed it down and looked at Harry, "Lad, you do know that it is not October, it's early December?"

"I know what month it is." Harry said

"Oh you're just a bit eager for Halloween then?" He smiled at Harry

"No…Oh this, the costume, long story short my friend she got drunk and she thinks it's Halloween and she dressed up as a bride and I'm getting her flowers because she was crying that she didn't have a bouquet." Harry rushed through his words.

"I remember when I was your age and all those crazy things I did in university." He brought Harry over to the fridge with the bouquets in it, "Lad, pick the one that fits the lady best."

Harry picked up a bouquet of Hermione's favorite flowers, white orchids and red snapdragons; she had mentioned that they were her favorite one day when they were asking each other random questions.

"These are her favorite flowers, I'll get these for her." Harry handed the shopkeeper the bouquet.

The flowers were rung up and Harry handed the man the correct amount of pounds. Harry glanced at his watch and he realized he only had an hour and a half to get ready for the ball. Harry thanked the shopkeeper for all his help and understanding as he ran out of the store and found an ally way that he could apparate from.

Harry apparated to Hogsmeade and threw his invisibility cloak on, he snuck back to Hogwarts the same way he left. Harry ran up to his dorm room and he placed the flowers down on his bed before he took a shower.

Upon stepping out of the shower Harry used a spell to dry his hair and the rest of his body; sometimes towels are overrated. Harry lathered his face with shaving cream and picked up his razor. He quickly shaved his face and washed any remaining cream off. Quickly Harry put the clothes he was going to wear to the ball on, grabbed Hermione's flowers, and went out to his private common room to pass the remaining time, which was 45 minutes, by continuing to work on the Quidditch diagram.

Meanwhile Hermione was still being attacked by Lavender and Parvati, they had finished with her hair but they had just begun the makeup process. Since Lavender and Parvati were accomplished at doing hair and makeup they were able to do each other's hair and makeup quickly and they left Hermione's makeup for last. The girls had gotten into a long-winded explanation about what they called 'lipstick trails', in short it is lipstick that gets on a girl's hair and brushes against her cheek and stays there. This was the reason they left the makeup for last.

"Go put your dress on. We wanna see it on you." Parvati said handing Hermione her shopping bag.

"Alright." She smiled and walked into the bathroom, where she glanced at herself in the mirror. Most of her hair was pulled up into an up-do, basically a high ponytail that was curled with the curls pinned to the rest of her hair, and she had two strands of curled hair on the sides of her face. Her makeup had a subtle effect, her eyelids were coated in a three color combination, light coffee, light gold, and beige. Her lips and cheeks had a pinkish tint to them, her lips being a tiny bit darker than her cheeks. "Wow, they did a really good job with me, I look great." She whispered to herself.

She quickly slid her dress on, she made sure she wasn't "hanging out" too much and checked to see if she took the tag off the dress. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at her shoes, then she put them on and exited the bathroom.

The second she stepped into the dorm room Lavender shrieked, "Oh dear Merlin, I love it." Parvarti nodded in agreement as she was putting her earrings on.

"Oh right I almost forgot." Hermione said and pulled a mini-purse out of the shopping bag and her wand. The latter she put into the purse and she pulled out jewelry and put it on her body.

"Hey Hermione, Lav and I are going to go down to the Entrance Hall, are you going to leave now or later?"

"Later." Hermione said as she placed a bunch of items in the purse.

Harry glanced at his watch and stood from his spot on the couch, abandoning his Quidditch diagram. He picked the flowers up again and left the common room. He walked down to the Entrance Hall and leaned against the wall to wait for Hermione to come down the stairs.

For ten minutes Hermione preformed a few spells on her self that she had learned from the book she got the day she fell. That book that she had gotten had a lot of really useful spells, which make the life of a witch and wizard a lot easier.

Harry stood against the wall and watched as most of the seventh years started to fill up the hall, but Hermione had not arrived yet. He was beginning to get worried, when he saw Lavender and Parvati he rushed over to them.

"Do you know where Hermione is?" He asked them when he got over to them.

"Um… when we left her she was still getting ready." Lavender replied as Parvati spotted Dean and her sister standing by Shamus.

"I'm going to go over to Shamus." Parvati smiled and walked over to her date, waving at him.

Within a few minutes Professor McGonagall, started to send the students into the Great Hall after all of the students, except for Harry, were in the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall walked over to Harry.

"Where is Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter?" She demanded.

"Getting ready, still." Harry sighed. "She'll be down soon." He mumbled, as Professor McGonagall walked away, "Professor, how did you know Hermione is my date?"

"Potter you and Ms. Granger are a popular topic in this castle, word gets around." Professor McGonagall went into the Great Hall.

When the door banged shut a minute later a person appeared at the top of the fight of stairs that lead up to Gryffindor Tower.

She smiled as she started to walk down the stairs towards Harry watching his expression change as she got closer…

Yes I'm evil for leaving you with a cliffy and taking so long to finish this chapter. I'm so sorry for the wait, but let me explain. I'm a full time student and I work full time. I brought my laptop to work and sat here and typed most of the chapter up for my readers. Keep you eyes open for the next chapter, and any other story I'm writing. Until next time, goodbye.

Just Mione


	6. Chapter 6

Seventh Year Ball

Seventh Year Ball

Chapter 5

She smiled as she started to walk down the stairs towards Harry watching his expression change as she got closer to him. At first he was just smiling at her, because she had finally arrived in the Entrance Hall, his expression had changed as he looked at the way she walked and how her dress fit her body. The slit on the dress showed Hermione's slender legs to Harry while the top half of the dress covered just enough to be considered decent.

"Wow, Hermione, you look gorgeous." Harry said quietly

"Thank you, you look handsome yourself." Hermione smiled

"Your welcome, oh these are for you they are your fa-" Harry said handing her the flowers.

"My favorite, white orchids and red snapdragons. How did you know?" She kissed him on the cheek, and smelling the sweet aroma of the flowers.

"I just remember important things, like that." Harry answered as Professor McGonagall, came out of the Great Hall to see the duo standing there

"Potter, Granger you have a ball to open. Those are nice flowers, but let's get going." She demanded and directed them to the Great Hall, the doors of which she magically opened.

The Great Hall was stunning with its high ceiling mirroring the night sky and the decorations of clusters of pixy lights and candles that were set on the 20 or so round tables that were all set for two except the Professors table which was set for all of the Professors.

Music started to play as Harry and Hermione walked on to the dance floor, it was a song that fit the way Harry felt, _The Way You Look Tonight_ by Frank Sinatra. Harry and

Hermione started to dance around in slow circles to the song.

_Some day, when I'm awfully low,  
When the world is cold,  
I will feel a glow just thinking of you...  
And the way you look tonight. _

Harry put his arms around her and she put her arms around his neck. Harry just looked at her and how she looked in her red dress as they danced around the Great Hall. They were a little uncomfortable having all of the seventh years and their Professors watching them dance alone in the Hall.__

Yes you're lovely, with your smile so warm  
And your cheeks so soft,  
There is nothing for me but to love you,  
And the way you look tonight.  


She rested her head on his chest as they danced, with a content smile on her face. She was feeling slightly more comfortable dancing in front of the large crowd of people. He looked at her face and could see that she was a bit more comfortable then before.

_  
With each word your tenderness grows,  
Tearing my fear apart...  
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,  
It touches my foolish heart.  
_

They were holding their right hands together as they danced and Harry decided to be fancy. He spun her out from his body and she laughed at his corniness. Then she spun back into his arms.

_  
Lovely ... Never, ever change.  
Keep that breathless charm.  
Won't you please arrange it ?  
'Cause I love you ... Just the way you look tonight.  
_

He looked into her eyes and kissed her on the cheek, whispering "Thank you, for everything."

She hugged him and kissed him back, "No, thank you." She whispered to him forcefully.

_  
Mm, Mm, Mm, Mm,  
Just the way you look to-night._

The entire crowd of seventh years and professors all stepped on to the dance floor as the next song started,

_This romeo is bleeding__  
__But you can't see his blood__  
__It's nothing but some feelings__  
__That this old dog kicked up___

_It's been raining since you left me__  
__Now I'm drowning in the flood__  
__You see I've always been a fighter__  
__But without you I give up_

_Now I can't sing a love song__  
__Like the way it's meant to be__  
__Well, I guess I'm not that good anymore__  
__But baby, that's just me___

_And I will love you, baby - Always__  
__And I'll be there forever and a day - Always__  
__I'll be there till the stars don't shine__  
__Till the heavens burst and__  
__The words don't rhyme__  
__And I know when I die, you'll be on my mind__  
__And I'll love you - Always___

_Now your pictures that you left behind__  
__Are just memories of a different life__  
__Some that made us laugh, some that made us cry__  
__One that made you have to say goodbye__  
__What I'd give to run my fingers through your hair__  
__To touch your lips, to hold you near__  
__When you say your prayers try to understand__  
__I've made mistakes, I'm just a man___

_When he holds you close, when he pulls you near__  
__When he says the words you've been needing to hear__  
__I'll wish I was him 'cause those words are mine__  
__To say to you till the end of time___

_Yeah, I will love you baby - Always__  
__And I'll be there forever and a day - Always___

_If you told me to cry for you__  
__I could__  
__If you told me to die for you__  
__I would__  
__Take a look at my face__  
__There's no price I won't pay__  
__To say these words to you__  
__Well, there ain't no luck__  
__In these loaded dice__  
__But baby if you give me just one more try__  
__We can pack up our old dreams__  
__And our old lives__  
__We'll find a place where the sun still shines___

_And I will love you, baby - Always__  
__And I'll be there forever and a day - Always__  
__I'll be there till the stars don't shine__  
__Till the heavens burst and__  
__The words don't rhyme__  
__And I know when I die, you'll be on my mind__  
__And I'll love you - Always_

A few more songs played and then Dumbledore announced that it was time for food to be served.

Harry and Hermione had a table assigned to them, right near the Professors and close to another two older couples that all recognized each other.

"Hello Harry, Hermione." Four voices sounded as the duo sat down.

"Hi everyone." Harry turned in his seat to see, his godfather, Catherine (Sirius' fiancé), Remus, and Tonks.

"Oh Sirius you owe me, what was it, 10 galleons, Harry and Hermione got together without needing your 'assistance'." Remus slyly said to Sirius.

"Fine." Sirius reached into his cloak but Hermione stopped him.

"We're not officially together." Hermione said looking at Harry hopefully.

"What's with the look?" Harry asked playfully.

"Nothing." She pursed her lips and turned her head away from him slightly.

"Hermione, will you be my girlfriend?" Harry asked, turning her head to look back at him.

Hermione, for once, did not think before she acted. She turned her head back to him and she kissed him. "That's my answer." She said as they separated.

"Oh Sirius, I think I won our little bet, now." Remus saw the scene between the two teenagers.

"Fine, Fine, Fine." Sirius started to count out the 10 gallons from an inside pocket on his robes and handed the small pile of gold to Remus, "Are you happy now, you know it all." Sirius mocked Remus.

"Sirius stop making fun of him! You have been on his case all day long and your starting to get me mad!" Tonks' hair started to turn red as she got annoyed with the antics of the two 'grown men' before her. "You are acting like a 13 year old child, Sirius. While Remus is just sitting here taking all of this abuse. Honestly can the two of you stop bickering like an old married couple or should I just plan a wedding for the two of you?" Tonks' hair was now fully red and her eyes were an interesting shade of green, this appearance usually made Sirius and Remus take her seriously since they said she looked like Lilly like that.

"Sure _Lilly_." Sirius mocked his cousin and tossed a small piece of bread at her.

"Padfoot, stop it." Lupin turned around in his chair with a menacing look on his face. "Stop annoying my wife or I'm going to get very angry." He glanced at the ceiling quickly.

"Yes Professor Lupin, I'll behave." Sirius smirked as his food appeared on his plate.

Harry was laughing at Hermione while she was looking at her 'menu,' it was set up the same way it was at the Yule Ball and now Hermione was having a problem with using the house elves for something so trivial.

"Mione, just pretend that it's Dobby serving you."

"I understand that but I feel uncomfortable ordering in this way." Hermione argued with her boyfriend. "It puts a lot of extra work on the house elves and it is really upsetting thinking about what they have to do for all of the people at the ball."

"Hermione, they do this every year. Its normal for them and most House Elves _want_ to serve their masters." He kissed her cheek.

"Fine, now that you gave me some encouragement, but I still don't like it." Hermione looked at her plate and ordered pork chops. They appeared on her plate a minute later.

Harry, Hermione, and everyone else at the ball relaxed and ate their dinners with a lot of care because nobody wanted to dirty their dress robes. For the rest of the night couples danced around the dance floor to all different kinds of music. Many of the girls had taken their high heals off, but Hermione hadn't. Before the last few songs were to play Dumbledore stood before the crowd of students.

"I would like to say a few words before anyone goes back to their dorms. As we all know the war against Voldemort is over and it has been over since the summer. All over the globe witches and wizards are still celebrating, many are still mourning. I would like to play a muggle song to honor all those lost to Voldemort, and to those that were supposed to be here dancing with all of you tonight." He waved his wand and music started to play. _I Will Remember You_ by Sarah McLachlan

_I will remember you  
Will you remember me?  
Don't let your life pass you by  
Weep not for the memories_

Harry and Hermione held each other as they both though of Ron and Ginny. Hermione knew the words to the song and she started to sing along to it.

_Remember the good times that we had?  
I let them slip away from us when things got bad  
How clearly I first saw you smilin' in the sun  
Wanna feel your warmth upon me, I wanna be the one_

Sirius stood next to Remus; they were both looking down at the floor thinking about Lily and James. Cat was sobbing on Sirius' shoulder; Lily had been her best friend.

_I will remember you  
Will you remember me?  
Don't let your life pass you by  
Weep not for the memories  
_

Tonks held on to Remus to console him. He hugged her back and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

_I'm so tired but I can't sleep  
Standin' on the edge of something much too deep  
It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word  
We are screaming inside, but we can't be heard  
_

Some students were sitting down on chairs crying while their date consoled them, hugging them and rubbing their back.

_  
But I will remember you  
Will you remember me?  
Don't let your life pass you by  
Weep not for the memories  
_

Draco Malfoy knocked over a chair in anger. He had come over to the good side and he was still angry about what he had done in the war.

_I'm so afraid to love you, but more afraid to loose  
Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose  
Once there was a darkness, deep and endless night  
You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me light_

Many of the Professors looked solemnly at the floor, remembering all those lost to the ridiculous war.

_And I will remember you  
Will you remember me?  
Don't let your life pass you by  
Weep not for the memories_

The ball ended with a few slow songs to calm the students down from their antics at the ball and from the crying that they just did. Suddenly as the last song ended a loud BANG was heard from behind the head table. This BANG was a firework going off, The firework spelled out "CLASS OF 1999" This firework flashed in many different colors, red, blue, yellow and green, to stand for reach house of Hogwarts. The message stayed in the air for a minute of two.

"So Hermione, ready to head up stairs?" Harry asked her as some students started to leave the Ball.

"Yeah," She answered, "but I have to grab my purse." She went over to the table as Sirius walked over to Harry.

"Now Harry be careful." Sirius shook Harry's hand and passed him a small package.

"Sirius is this what I think it is?" Harry felt the small square package in his hand.

"Yes it is, as I said be careful, and have a good night." Sirius patted him on the back and winked. "Harry this is how you parents got together, at The Seventh Year Ball, considering how much like your father you are I'm gunna say it again. Be Careful."

Hermione walked back over to Harry and Sirius. She and Harry held hands, Harry made sure it wasn't the hand with the package (because it would give her the wrong message), and they stated walking up to their common room. They told the password to the portrait and they entered their common room.

"Mione, I have a weird question." He asked as Hermione conjured a vase and some water to put her flowers in.

"Yeah what is it?" She started to pull stuff out of her purse and put it all back where it belonged.

"How are you still wearing your shoes, most girls, I noticed took their shoes off?"

"Ah…well I used a simple spell to make it feel as if I was walking on air. I could wear these for days if I wanted to." Hermione sat down on the couch next to where Harry was sitting.

"Wow, that's a very interesting spell." Harry was impressed. There was complete silence in the common room, "Hear that?"

"No, what am I supposed to hear?" Hermione started to relax

"Nothing, that's the beauty of it." Harry said then he kissed her.

THE END!

Well that's all folks! I know I took forever with the updates, but I think most of my readers loved the story line. If you want I will write an epilogue but that's only if I get any requests for one (send them in a review). For those who could not guess what the package was, it was a condom, please just take it as Sirius being a protective godfather who didn't want anything "bad" to happen to his godson. Also if anyone wants a further explanation of Cat (Sirius' Fiancé) drop a review and just ask me I'll explain no problem. I should have a story about them coming soonish.

OH and by the way I don't own any of the songs or the Harry Potter world, which belongs to the artists and JKR, respectively.

Just Mione


	7. Chapter 7

Seventh Year Ball

Epilogue

Harry and Hermione sat there as they waited for their son, James, to walk into the Great Hall with a young woman on his arm. He was the Head Boy and it was the seventh year ball. Tradition at the Seventh Year Ball had always been that the parents of the Head Boy and Girl attended to see the traditional ball.

The doors to the Great Hall opened and James walked through the doors of the Great Hall. He was wearing black tux and a wide smile. A pretty red haired girl hung on his arm wearing dress robes that shimmered as she walked.

The girl was Fred's daughter, Ginny; she looked just like her namesake. Harry nudged Hermione in the ribs and they giggled, their little fight with the Weasleys was long over and they had their children growing up together.

"You know Ron and Ginny would be so happy to see this." Hermione whispered to Harry.

He smiled sadly, "Yeah, they would be…"

The music started to play and James and Ginny turned and held onto each other and started to move to the music.

Don't go changing, to try and please me  
You never let me down before  
Don't imagine you're too familiar  
And I don't see you anymore  
I would not leave you in times of trouble  
We never could have come this far  
I took the good times, I'll take the bad times  
I'll take you just the way you are

Hermione thought back to the dance she shared with Harry to the song The Way You Look Tonight by Frank Sinatra, so many years ago. It was the night they actually admitted their feelings for each other and did something about them.

Don't go trying some new fashion  
Don't change the color of your hair  
You always have my unspoken passion  
Although I might not seem to care

Harry gave Hermione a kiss on the top of her head as they watched their son spin around on the dance floor with a friend's daughter.

I don't want clever conversation  
I never want to work that hard  
I just want someone that I can talk to  
I want you just the way you are.

Hermione looked around the rest of the Great Hall there was Professor McGonagall, now headmistress. Hagrid stood at the professors' table wearing his ugly dress robes.

I need to know that you will always be  
The same old someone that I knew  
What will it take 'till you believe in me  
The way that I believe in you.

Harry whispered to Hermione, "Who sings this song?"

"Billy Joel." She whispered back.

I said I love you and that's forever  
And this I promise from my heart  
I couldn't love you any better  
I love you just the way you are.

The dance was beautiful and another song started. The students, professors, and guests made their way to the dance floor as the vocals in the song started.

You want commitment  
Take a look into these eyes  
They burn with fire  
Until the end of time  
I would do anything  
I'd beg, I'd steal, I'd die  
To have you in these arms tonight

The words of the song echoed Harry and Hermione's feelings for each other. They do anything and everything for each other, risk their lives and break school rules.

Baby I want you  
Like the roses want the rain  
You know I need you  
Like a poet needs the pain  
I would give anything  
My blood, my love, my life  
If you were in these arms tonight

Hermione smile as Harry stayed to the whisper the words of the song, they had both become fans of Bon Jovi since day of their Seventh Year Ball. Hermione leaned up and gave Harry a kiss. He held her closer and they sank into each other's arms.

I'd hold you  
I'd need you  
I'd get down on my knees for you  
And make everything alright  
If you were in these arms  
I'd love you  
I'd please you  
I'd tell you that I'd never leave you  
And love you 'til the end of time  
If you were in these arms tonight

They relaxed into the words of the song and let the rhythm move their bodies. They both thought back to their Seventh Year Ball and their first dance as husband and wife.

We stared at the sun  
And we made a promise  
A promise this world would never blind us  
And these were our words  
Our words were our songs  
Our songs are our prayers  
These prayers keep me strong  
and I still believe  
If you were in these arms

I'd hold you  
I'd need you  
I'd get down on my knees for you  
And make everything alright  
If you were in these arms  
I'd love you  
I'd please you  
I'd tell you that I'd never leave you  
And love you 'til the end of time  
If you were in these arms tonight

Your clothes are still scattered  
All over our room  
This whole place still smells like  
Your cheap perfume  
Everything here reminds me of you  
And there's nothing  
That I wouldn't do...

And these were our words  
They keep me strong, baby!

I'd hold you  
I'd need you  
I'd get down on my knees for you  
And make everything alright  
If you were in these arms  
I'd love you  
I'd please you  
I'd tell you that I'd never leave you  
And love you 'til the end of time  
If you were in these arms... tonight

If you were in these arms... tonight  
If you were in these arms... tonight  
If you were in these arms...

"I love you, Hermione Potter." Harry whispered as the song ended.

"I love you, too." She responded as James walked over to them.

"Hi Mum. Hi Dad." He gave his parents a hug.

"James!" Hermione flung her arms around her son. "We've missed you."

"I missed you, too, Mum." He broke free of her hug.

"James, why didn't you say you were taking Ginny to the ball?" Harry asked as his wife and son sat down at the table.

"I wanted it to be a surprise." James said.

Ginny walked over to the table with her father behind her. "James, are we going to dance some more? I was having fun."

"Yeah." James stood and the two teens rushed off to the dance floor.

Harry, Hermione, and Fred caught up on their jobs, the kids, and just about everything. The ball flew by so quickly and Harry and Hermione needed to remind their child to be careful tonight, if family tradition continued.

The last song ended, a loud BANG was heard from behind the professors' table. This BANG was a firework going off, The firework spelled out "CLASS OF 2019" This firework flashed in many different colors, red, blue, yellow and green, to stand for reach house of Hogwarts. The message stayed in the air for a minute of two.

Harry rushed over to his son and had eerily familiar conversation.

"Now James, be careful." Harry shook James's hand and passed him a small package.

"Dad is this what I think it is?" James felt the small square package in his hand.

"Yes it is, as I said be careful, and have a good night." Harry patted him on the back.

"Good night, Dad." James looked surprised, but left the Great Hall, Ginny on his arm.

"You think history is going to repeat itself?" Hermione asked.

"Most likely." Harry said, "We just have to make sure not to tell Fred."

They laughed together as they exited the Great Hall, arm in arm.

THE END!

A/N Many people asked me for an epilogue. So there is, hope you liked it. Let me know how it was.

The songs were: _Just The Way You Are_ by Billy Joel AND _In These Arms_ by Bon Jovi

As usual I do not on Harry Potter and or any of the songs in the fic.

Just Mione


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